S moke S ignals
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
9
Saturday’s grand entry even larger
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Symphony Zimmer competes in the Girls Fancy dance category of the 2017
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Contest Powwow held at Uyxat Powwow
Grounds on Saturday, Aug. 19.
POWWOW continued
from page 8
outgoing Royalty for 2016-17 gave
speeches and held appreciation
giveaways. Outgoing Royalty were
Senior Miss Grand Ronde Iyana
Holmes, Junior Miss Grand Ronde
Isabelle Grout and Little Miss
Grand Ronde Kaleigha Simi.
Friday grand entry
The Contest Powwow attracted
nine contest drums – Red Hoop,
Bucwild, Chute No. 8, Bucshot, 4
Bands, Silent Hill, Buffalo Hill,
Indian Nation and Signal Butte
– that competed for a combined
$20,000 in prizes. There also were
five non-contest drums: Red River,
Turquoise Pride, Red Nations, Ea-
gle Lodge Singers and Wandering
Boys. Bucwild took home the grand
prize of $8,000.
Friday night’s grand entry was
led by Tribal Elder Alton Butler
and Wayne Chulik (Tlingit) carry-
ing in eagle staffs. Butler carried in
a new eagle staff created by Tribal
Elder Deitz Peters as the old eagle
staff belonging to the late Marcellus
Norwest was retired.
As host drum Blackstone pound-
ed out and sang an honor song,
Tribal Elder Steve Bobb Sr. carried
in the U.S. flag, Tribal Elder Ray-
mond Petite carried in the Grand
Ronde flag, Tribal spouse Richard
VanAtta carried in the MIA/POW
flag and Al Miller carried in the
Oregon flag. They were followed by
veterans, Tribal Council members,
Tribal Royalty from various Tribes
and Contest Powwow contestants
starting with the Golden Age danc-
ers 50 and older and ending with
the Tiny Tot dancers 5 years of age
and younger.
Tribal Council members who
marched in were Tribal Chair Reyn
Leno, Secretary Jon A. George,
The newly named 2017-18 Grand Ronde Royalty Court, from left, Grand
Ronde Warrior Nacoma Liebelt, Little Miss Grand Ronde Sophia Grout,
Junior Miss Grand Ronde Kaleigha Simi, Senior Miss Grand Ronde
Isabelle Grout and honorary Tiny Tot Jameson Turner take their honor
dance after coronation, which took place before the start of the 2017
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Contest Powwow held at Uyxat
Powwow Grounds on Friday, Aug. 18.
Tonya Gleason-Shepek, Brenda
Tuomi, Denise Harvey, Jack Giffen
Jr., Chris Mercier and Kathleen
George.
Cultural Resources Cultural Ad-
viser Bobby Mercier gave the invo-
cation in Chinuk Wawa and Leno
welcomed attendees who packed
the bleachers and wooden seating
area under the Arbor.
“I’d just like to thank everyone
for coming this evening,” Leno said.
“As you look out here, I’d like to
have a special hand for all of these
fine dancers who have come a long
way. When you look at this regalia,
a lot of it is handmade. A lot of work
goes into it. Our drummers have
come a long way. They’ve come here
to share our culture and our history
with you.”
Leno honored veterans and El-
ders in attendance, as well as the
young dancers.
“All we ask of you as guests here is
to make sure you honor our lands,”
Leno said. “This is actually very
sacred ground to us so I ask you to
acknowledge that ground, acknowl-
edge these dancers
and acknowledge
these drummers.
… We’re here to
have a great week-
end and I can only
imagine what the
crowd will be to-
morrow and to-
Marcel Allen competes in the Teen Boys Grass dance category during the 2017 Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde Contest Powwow held at Uyxat Powwow Grounds on Saturday, Aug. 19.
morrow night.”
Friday evening featured numer-
ous InterTribal dances and was
highlighted by Chinuk Language
Assistant Halona Butler and her
husband, Washie Squetimkin,
holding a Tiny Tot special for the
coming out of their 1-year-old
daughter, Willow.
Contest dancing begins
Saturday afternoon’s attendance
at the powwow was even larger and
Leno mentioned it as he welcomed
contestants and audience members
to the 1 p.m. grand entry. Satur-
day’s grand entry again took more
than 20 minutes to get every dancer
underneath the Arbor.
“This is probably one of the big-
gest powwows we have ever had
here in Grand Ronde,” Leno said.
“I’ve lived here all of my life and
we started our powwows down at
our old museum grounds. Very
small. We moved to the Governance
Center and then we were up here
for a few years before we built this
beautiful arbor.”
Bobb gave the invocation and ac-
knowledged the “collage of colors”
on display among dancers’ regalia.
During Saturday’s grand entry,
veterans were acknowledged and
introduced themselves. Tribal
See POWWOW
continued on page 10
Ethan Sabin competes in the Boys Grass dance category
during the 2017 Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Con-
test Powwow held at Uyxat Powwow Grounds on Saturday,
Aug. 19.